Primarily based on ethnographic fieldwork in a police K-9 training program, this article first presents the optimal attributes of patrol dogs and their handlers. It then moves to a discussion of the training process and emphasizes the apparent disjunction between defining the dog as a law enforcement tool, on one hand, and a unique and sentient individual, on the other. Following a description of key elements of the day-to-day work of the K-9 unit, the article discusses the uneasiness that handlers (and police administrators) feel due to the potential conflict between treating the patrol dog as an effective weapon/deterrent and treating it as a reliable companion/partner and docile family member. The article concludes with a brief examination of ambivalence as a general feature of social life and a unique characteristic of the occupation life of the K-9 police officer.
Arluke, Arnold, and Clinton R. Sanders. 1996. Regarding animals. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
2.
Bayley, David, and Egon Bittner. 1984. Learning the skills of policing. Law and Contemporary Problems47 (4): 35-59.
3.
Bidner, Jen. 2002. Dog heros: Savinglives and protecting America. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press.
4.
Boling, Rick. 1998. A cop’s best friend. Animals31 (4): 33-36.
5.
Chapman, Samuel. 1964a. The dog in law enforcement—A brief resume. In Police patrol readings, edited by S. G. Chapman, 410-413. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
6.
Chapman, Samuel. 1964b. Whether to use police dogs. In Police patrol readings, edited by S. G. Chapman, 413-418. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
7.
Cockburn, Alexander. 2000. Cops and dogs. The Nation, March 21, p. 10.
8.
Del Carmen, Rolando, and Regina Saucier. 1985. Of sniffs and bites: Legal issues in police dog use. The Police Chief52:50-53.
9.
Derr, Mark. 1997. Dog’s best friend: Annals of the dog-human relationship. New York: Henry Holt.
10.
Drummond, Douglas. 1976. Police culture. Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.
11.
Eden, R. S.1993. K-9 officer’s manual. Bellingham, WA: Temeron Books.
12.
Fitzgerald, Jack, and Steven Cox. 1987. Research methods in criminal justice: An introduction. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
13.
Fox, James, and Robert Lundman. 1974. Problems and strategies in gaining research access in police organizations. Criminology12:52-69.
14.
Goffman, Erving. 1959. The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
15.
Greenebaum, Jessica. 2004. It’s a dog’s life: Elevating from pet to “fur baby” at yappy hour. Society and Animals12 (2): 117-135.
16.
Guttmann, Giselher. 1981. The psychological determinants of keeping pets. In Interrelations between people and pets, edited by B. Fogle, 89-98. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
17.
Hart, Lynette, R. Lee Zasloff, Sandy Bryson, and Sara Christensen. 2000. The role of police dogs as companions and working partners. Psychological Reports86:190-202.
18.
Hearne, Vickie. 1987. Adam’s task. New York: Knopf.
19.
Herzog, Harold. 1993. Human morality and animal research. American Scholar62:337-349.
20.
Hess, Russ. 2001. Law enforcement canines. United States Police Canine Association. Retrieved January 15, 2003, from http://www/uspcak9.com/cgi-bin/UaBB/YaBB.pl/
21.
Irvine, Leslie. 2004. If you tame me: Understanding our connection with animals. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
22.
Jordon, James. 1975. An ambivalent relationship: Dog and human in the folk culture of the rural south. Appalachian Journal2 (3): 68-77.
23.
Koehler, William. 1962. The Koehler method of dog training. New York: Howell.
24.
Lasher, Margot. 1998. A relational approach to the human-animal bond. Anthrozoös11 (3): 130-133.
25.
Lawrence, Elizabeth. 1985. Hoofbeats and society: Studies of human-horse interactions. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
26.
Lilly, J. Robert, and Michael Puckett. 1997. Social control and dogs: A sociohistorical analysis. Crime and Delinquency43 (2): 123-148.
27.
McCall, George. 1978. Observing the law: Field methods in the study of crime and the criminal justice system. New York: Free Press.
28.
Meehan, Shannan. 1994. Officers and dogs share powerful human/animal bond. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association205 (10): 1387.
29.
Merton, Robert. 1976. Sociological ambivalence and other essays. New York: Free Press.
30.
Merton, Robert, and Elinor Barber. 1963. Sociological ambivalence. In Sociological theory, values and socio-cultural change, edited by E. A. Tiryakian, 91-120. New York: Free Press.
31.
Pick, Grant. 1987. No pets. The Chicago Reader17 (9): 1, 26, 30-36.
32.
Rapp, Jay. 1979. How to organize a canine unit and train dogs for police work. Fairfax, VA: Denlinger.
33.
Rosenthal, Richard. 1997. K-9 cops. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Sanders, Clinton. 1990. Excusing tactics: Social responses to the public misbehavior of companion animals. Anthrozoös4 (2): 82-90.
36.
Sanders, Clinton. 1994. Annoying owners: Routine interactions with problematic clients in a general veterinary practice. Qualitative Sociology17 (1): 159-170.
37.
Sanders, Clinton. 1999. Understanding dogs: Living and working with canine companions. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
38.
Sanders, Clinton. 2000. The impact of guide dogs on the identity of people with visual impairments. Anthrozoös13 (3): 131-139.
39.
Sanders, Clinton. 2003. Actions speak louder than words: Close relationships between humans and non-human animals. Symbolic Interaction26 (3): 405-426.
40.
Taslitz, Andrew. 1992. A practioner’s guide to dog scent lineups. Criminal Law Bulletin28 (3): 218-245.
41.
Tuan, Yi-Fu. 1984. Dominance and affection. New Haven: Yale University Press.
42.
Van Maanen, John. 1973. Observations on the making of policemen. Human Organization32:407-418.
43.
Van Maanen, John. 1978. The asshole. In Policing: A view from the street, edited by P. Manning and J. Van Maanen, 20-34. New York: Random House.
44.
Van Maanen, John. 1982. Fieldwork on the beat. In Varieties of qualitative research, edited by J. Van Maanen, J. Dabbs, and R. Faulkner, 103-151. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
45.
Weigert, Andrew. 1991. Mixed emotions. Albany: State University of New York Press.
46.
Weisbord, Merrily, and Kim Kachanoff. 2000. Dogs with jobs. New York: Simonand Schuster.
47.
Wieder, D. Lawrence. 1980. Behavioristic operationalism and the life-world: Chimpanzees and chimpanzee researchers in face-to-face interaction. Sociological Inquiry50:75-103.
48.
Wilkie, Rhoda. 2005. Sentient commodities and productive paradoxes: The ambiguous nature of human-livestock relations in Northeast Scotland. Journal of Rural Studies21 (2): 213-230.
